


shadows cast over ash

by Misaki_kaito



Category: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Video Game), Middle-earth: Shadow of War (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Feels, Gen, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 08:26:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12339051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misaki_kaito/pseuds/Misaki_kaito
Summary: When Sauron falls, someone else is freed. He seeks that which he betrayed, once, so long ago.This is what he finds, before his long journey West.





	shadows cast over ash

He was free, suddenly.

The grip Sauron had over him broke as pain, fear and rage swept through him, and Celebrimbor was finally _free_. 

He could go to Valinor. 

He could see his wife and child again. 

But first… First he had to find Talion.

He flew  to that place, to where Talion had last lain- he’d remembered that much, though Sauron had taken much. 

But where Talion’s body was supposed to be there was only dust. 

_Decades have passed, Celebrimbor._ And there was her voice. He turned to see Shelob emerge from the darkness, looking just as she always had.  _You will not find him here._

_Where is his body?_ Celebrimbor demands, and Shelob  _laughs._

_Beyond your reach, **Bright Lord**_ **.** She is vicious in her declaration,  _ Talion refused you at the last, and saved all of Middle Earth in doing so.  _

_ Enough, _ Celebrimbor says, and she laughs once more, mocking and wrathful, yet pleased.  _ What became of his body? _

_ It is ash,  _ Shelob says, circling Celebrimbor, looking so much the spider that she is,  _ His body burned with that of his drake, scattered at the foot of Mount Doom.  _

_ Impossible, _ Celebrimbor says,  _ He was left here, he cannot have gotten that far- _

_You left him here to die,_ Shelob says, _But when have you known Talion to submit peacefully to death when there was yet a battle to be won?_ She steps closer to him, and her voice becomes razor sharp as she whispers. 

_ Once, I asked Talion how much he was willing to sacrifice. In the years that passed, he showed me; it was the price paid for the visions I give you now.  _ Visions assailed Celebrimbor then, visions of Talion alone as he suffered under the bindings of Sauron’s ring, of Isildur’s cage, fighting madness and darkness for months, years,  _ decades… _ Until, finally, he Fell. 

Until, finally, he died.

Celebrimbor gasped sharply at the sheer _relief_ Talion felt as he fell once more, his body burning as Mount Doom raged. Then Celebrimbor saw only Talion’s back as he walked towards the light, before he was pulled back by Shelob. 

_ Where he goes, you cannot follow. You will not find forgiveness here, Celebrimbor. Not from me. And not from Talion.  _ As Shelob’s words faded, Celebrimbor could only stare at the place where Talion once laid, bleeding out as Celebrimbor betrayed him for the final time. 

Celebrimbor closed his eyes, and turned to the West. 

**Author's Note:**

> Written right after I saw the endings. It wouldn't leave me alone, dammit. Talion deserved better.


End file.
